Not So Secret Love Affair
by Death By TARDIS
Summary: Clint has a nightmare and Tony goes up to calm him down. IronHawk


**Summary:** _Clint has a nightmare and Tony goes up to calm him down. Random crap ensues.  
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**Warnings:**_ Slash  
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**Author's Note: **_So... I kinda just wrote something? I don't know. I can be weird, don't ask. Um... It may or may not seem finished depending on how you read it, but that's because I'm not sure it is. If people like it and time allows, I'd definitely be interested in extending the plot and adding some more chapters, but I wasn't going to go ahead and plan on that right now because I have some health issues that've kept me fairly busy. Point is, if you want me to continue with this, I promise I will try my best to get some more written!  
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_Thank you. :3_

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"_Tony,_" Clint screamed. "_Tony!_" he cried again, louder and with more conviction. The archer's voice was broken and his cheeks were wet with tears. As for the state of his poor bed, well, the sheets had been strewn across the room, he had kicked the pillows off, and he was curled up in a tight little ball on one corner of the damn thing. He didn't look strong enough to be a SHIELD agent; he seemed like a small child who was afraid of the dark, or a bad dream. In this case, it was a bad dream. He'd been having them often, but this one had by far caused the worst reaction. Clint had previously called out for Natasha, unsurprisingly, for Coulson, and even for Barney. (That one had the worst aftereffect. Clint had refused to talk for an entire day, something that was uncharacteristic for him, and only Natasha and Fury knew why that had been so heartbreaking for him.)

Crying out for Tony wasn't Clint's ideal nightmare either, of course. He and the genius were at odds; they fought like children, mostly because they both were. And yet Clint shouted the man's name again. It was then that JARVIS interrupted Tony with a small "Sir, Agent Barton seems to require your assistance." Tony arched an eyebrow at that and looked to Bruce, who just shrugged. "I believe you may want to hurry," continued the dull, monotone voice. Tony complied, dropping the tool in his hands and heading out of the lab.

The genius offered a small "be back later" over his should as he went through the door, but as soon as he was out of Bruce's sight, a concerned look spread across his face. Tony knew Clint's sleeping habits. The archer's weren't great, but they were better than Tony's. If there was one thing the genius knew, it was that Clint had been in bed a few hours. It was early in the morning, at least, so he'd hope so. But no matter the circumstances, Tony hurried up the floors to get to Clint's room and see what was up. He wouldn't admit it, but he had a small crush on the archer, if you could call it that, and it made him nervous to think the agent was uncomfortable. This was his home now; he was supposed to feel safe. They all were.

Tony knocked on Clint's door with no response. He stood there a minute before trying again. When that didn't work, he huffed and looked to the ceiling. That was his way of asking JARVIS what the hell was up, of course. With no response from the archer or the AI, because JARVIS was obviously too busy not interfering, Tony just used the system override to get in on his own. There he had been greeted by the sight of Clint's room and it looked like a few tornadoes had passed through. One couldn't help but wonder if that was all because of this nightmare, or if it had been accumulating from incidents before. Tony took a hesitant step forward, freezing as he heard Clint whimpering. "Clint..? Buddy, you okay?" He approached the bed and knelt beside it, his gut twisting uncomfortably as he saw the tear stains on Clint's cheek.

Clint sobbed into his arm, Tony's name rolling off his tongue again. It had taken the genius by surprise and he could only imagine that had been what JARVIS tried to tell him. "T-Tony…" Clint managed again, tensing as he curled in on himself further. It broke Tony's heart to see it. His archer – _Clint_, he corrected, was upset and he had something to do with it? He was nearly disgusted with himself.

Being uncharacteristically caring, Tony gently wiped away the tears from Clint's cheek. "Shhh…" he soothed. "It's alright, I'm here." To his surprise, that actually seemed to help. There was a break in Clint's crying and it almost seemed like it had stopped. Alas, it had simply come to a short halt. "Shh," Tony tried again. "I've got you, birdboy. Calm your ass down." It took a few minutes after that for Tony to finally get him to calm down, but he did and that was a victory in and of itself. "You alright now?" he asked the sleeping agent. When all he was greeted with was silence, he smiled. "Ah, good. Sleep well..?"

Tony stood, turning to leave, but looked back at Clint one last time. The agent looked so much calmer than he had when Tony entered and that only helped fill the genius with a greater sense of pride. He started to leave when he heard something, more like a squeak than anything else, that just said "stay." So he did. He turned around and knelt beside Clint's bed again and this time smiled at the now-awake archer. "Tony," Clint began, "stay. Please. I-I know you… I mean you… I just… Please." Another tear rolled down his cheek and all Tony could do was nod.

"Yeah, I'll stay," Tony assured. "Scoot your ass over, make room," he joked. It got a small half-chuckle out of Clint as he complied and that little semblance of a laugh made Tony happier than he'd expected. The genius crawled into the bed and wrapped one arm around Clint as if by instinct, the other being used as his makeshift pillow. "Sleep," he commanded. "I'll be right here." Clint almost felt the need to ask "promise?" or "for how long?" but he refrained from it. Instead, he wrapped himself into Tony and obeyed. The archer fell asleep with relative ease and all Tony could do was smile. "Goodnight…" he mumbled one last time. "Love you."

The sentence went unheard, but it made Tony happy just to be able to say it. The confession didn't need to be recognized. God, he was almost afraid of actually telling Clint. This was okay though. This was "just friends." This was him being brotherly to his best friend. This was him secretly being in love with the archer and being too afraid to commit. But most importantly, this was Tony trying to make someone's life better and he was happy. After a while of just staring at Clint, and forgetting to tell JARVIS to apologize to Bruce for him, Tony fell asleep too.

Of course, the boys didn't sleep much better together than they would have apart. They both fidgeted, Clint more than Tony, and they both seemed a bit uncomfortable where they were. In fact, they ended up on opposite sides of the bed, arms outstretched and only connected by their still-but-barely entwined fingers. It was Bruce who found them first - after asking JARVIS several times about Tony's whereabouts one might add. The AI told him after a few hours and Bruce had pulled up the footage on the computer in the lab.

Any slight anger or disappointment Bruce had felt towards Tony after the man didn't come back was gone as he saw the two. It had been a few days since he had seen Tony get a proper night's sleep, so it was not only adorable but it was relieving too. However, Bruce wouldn't keep something like _that_ to himself. No, he got Natasha and told her.

The two Avengers stared at the screen, unmoving and smiling like loons, for what seemed like hours and all they did was watch the steady rise and fall of Tony and Clint's chests. Oddly enough, it seemed right to them that they would get together. They were only around each other and playing jokes every second of the day. But everyone knew Natasha was planning on giving Tony the big sister talk. And, come to think of it, Bruce would probably give Clint one.

Tony stirred, stiffening as he opened his eyes to a more or less unfamiliar place. After blinking a few times, it seemed to register where he was and the tension fell as he smiled, crawling over to Clint's side of the bed and waking him up with a small kiss on the shoulder... or two. (He had no intentions of admitting that.) "Good morning," he mumbled, to which a wide smile crossed Clint's features. "How'd you sleep?"

"Better," was the only word he said, the only word that was needed. That lone word told Tony all he needed to know: Clint needed him as much as he needed Clint. And that made everything worth it. "A lot better."

"Good."


End file.
